1. Land is acquired under the homestead laws by entering upon the land, improving it, and residing there continuously for five years. At the expiration of this period, upon proof of residence and improvement and of minor facts, the settler is entitled to a patent conveying the land to him absolutely upon payment of the government fees. 2. The president may at any time issue a proclamation declaring that certain land will be exposed to sale at public auction at a specified time, which sale shall continue for two weeks, during which the land will be sold to the highest bidder. The minimum price for such land is $1.25 per acre and no credit is allowed for the purchase money. At the end of this time, such of the land as remains unsold will be subject to private sale at $1.25 per acre.'** 3. Congress has at different times granted military land warrants to certain soldiers, or their widows or children, entitling them to a certain portion of the public lands without payment of any money, unless the land is valued at more than $1.25 per acre, in which case the person holding the warrant is obliged to pay the difference between $1.25 and the price at which the land is rated." 159 4. Under the Timber Culture Act of 1878, if a person enter upon public land, cultivate it, and plant a certain quantity of timber, at the expiration of eight years he is entitled to a patent for the land.' 160 5. If a person reclaims a portion of desert land by conducting water upon it, he is entitled to a patent for the land upon payment of the government fees within three years.' 161 50. In all these cases, the one who claims the land must be a citizen of the United States, or one who has filed his declaration of intention to become such, and must, also, be either the head of a family, a widow, or a person over twenty-one years of age. Under the Homestead, Military Land Warrant, and Timber Culture Acts, no one person can acquire more than one 158 U. S. R. S.. Secs. 2,353, 2,379. 159 Ibid., Secs. 2,414, 2,446. 161 19 U. S. Stat., p. 377. Six hundred and forty hundred and sixty acres of land. acres of desert land may be acquired by one person who reclaims it, and, in the case of land at public auction or private sale, the number of acres for which a patent may be issued is unlimited. 51. Preemption Laws. -There was formerly another method of acquiring public lands, known as preemption. Under the preemption laws, land was acquired by settlement upon the land subject to preemption, by improving it, and by residing thereon continuously for six months. At the end of that time, the settler was entitled to a patent conveying him the land absolutely, upon proof of residence, improvement, and other minor facts, and the payment of $1.25 or $2.50 per acre, according to the location of the land." The preemption laws, however, were repealed by congress by act of March 3d, 1891.163 162 Certain other interests in public lands may be acquired by prescription or appropriation, as, for example, by taking up mining claims, and by appropriating waters. 52. Mining Claims. A patent for public mineral lands may be obtained in the following way: The applicant must file an application under oath in the proper land office, showing a compliance with all the preliminary requirements; must post a copy of the plat together with a notice of the application on the land; and must file in the land office an affidavit of at least two persons that such notice has been duly posted, together with a copy of the notice. The register of the land office must post the notice in his office for sixty days, and publish it for the same period in a newspaper nearest to the claim. The claimant must, also, file with the register the certificate of the surveyor general that $500 worth of labor has been expended on improvements, made upon the claim, by the applicant or his grantors. At the expiration of sixty days, unless during that time an adverse claim has been filed with the register, the claimant is entitled to a patent for the land upon payment of $5.00 an acre, 162 U. S. R. S., Secs. 2,257, 2,288. 163 Ibid., Sup. 942. if the claim be for a lode location, and $2.50 if for a placer location.' 164 53. Appropriation of Waters.-In England, mere occupation or appropriation of public water, unless it amount to prescription, confers no exclusive rights upon the one thus using it.' 165 In the United States, by the custom which has obtained among miners in the Pacific states and territories, where mining for precious metals is had on the public lands, the first appropriator of mines, or of waters in the streams on such lands for mining purposes, is held to have a better right than others to work the mines or use the waters. He acquired a special property in the water, which permitted him to use it in mining, and gave him the right to prevent it from being diverted or its quality impaired. The same custom exists in the arid regions of the west with regard to the appropriation of waters for irrigation.17 166 54. State Lands. - The foregoing laws only apply to the public lands of the United States in the different territories, and not to public lands in the different states, unless the ownership and control of unappropriated lands were reserved by the United States at the creation of the state. But most, if not all, of the states have laws regulating the appropriation of public lands, under provisions which vary greatly in the different states. In some of the Western states, also, there are laws regulating mining claims, and the appropriation of waters. 55. Canadian Land Laws. -In Canada, an act called the Dominion Act, was passed in 1886, providing for the disposal of public land in that country. It is similar in many respects to the public-land laws of the United States, and authorizes the government to grant land under military warrants and homestead claims. It, also, provides for claims for mining, timber, grazing, and hay lands.16 164 U. S. R. S., Secs. 2,318, 2,352. 167 14 U. S. Stat. 253 (1866). 168 49 Vict. (1886), Rev. Stat. of Canada, p. 817. THE LAW OF PROPERTY (PART 3) PRIVATE GRANTS-DEEDS 1. A grant between private parties is called a private grant. The term is sometimes used synonymous with deed, which is the instrument by which a grant is effected. A deed is a writing sealed and delivered by the parties. More specifically, a deed is a writing made for the purpose of conveying real estate, and includes not only deeds of conveyance but all contracts, of whatever nature, which are evidenced by a sealed writing, as a mortgage, bond, lease, agreement to convey realty, and bill of sale. The term deed is here used only in the sense of the specific definition above given. The effect of a deed is to transfer the title to the property conveyed to the person named in the deed as the grantee.' Title means ownership as applied specially to real property. It implies the right to possession, although the owner may not have the actual possession. Title is defined as the means whereby the owner of lands has the first possession of his property.' No formal words nor special forms are necessary to constitute a valid deed. If an intention to pass title can be gathered from the instrument, it will be sufficient to make a valid conveyance irrespective of the inaccuracy of expression or the inaptness of the words used.' 1 Coke Lit. 171; Cent. Dict.; Anderson's 38 Blackf. (Ind.) 141 (1846); 84 Tex. 107 Law Dict. 324. 2 Coke Lit. 345, b. (1892). For notice of copyright, see page immediately following the title page |